Messy Play

We love a bit of messy play here. The learning opportunities are endless and it is so much fun too. However I must admit since growing to a family of four we have done much less messy play. I mean who has the time to clean up after various activities each day in between the daily groups, meet ups oh and not to mention day to day chores too.  If you manage it you must let me know your tips?!

So having not done any messy play for around a week, which is a lifetime for us I made a batch of spaghetti. I chose to do an edible activity as Little Miss is just getting into the swing of weaning. If I was doing this activity just with Little Mr I would have coloured the pasta but Little Miss reacts to lots of different things so I didn't want to chance colours.

I laid out an old sheet which is fab as it collected all of the mess and was easy to throw into the was. Little Mr was keen to use his play kitchen so we got out lots of pots and pans. He filled them with pasta and played chef. 

Little Miss had great fun exploring the texture of the pasta and of course the taste too.

After we had finished cooking, tasting, smearing and pulling the spaghetti it was time to wash up. For every messy activity I do I always have a bowl of soapy warm water at the ready. I hadn't planned for them to wash up but they wanted to. We played with the containers and filled and emptied them. Little Mr extended his learning further by beginning to organise the pans in the order of which held the most water. Of course we ended up with lots of water on the floor but it was nothing an old bath sheet couldn't solve. If it had been a nicer day it would have been ideal to do this outside. The best part of our messy play on this day was deffiinitely seeing Liitle Miss and Little Mr play together. It was simply adorable watching Little Miss giggle away as her brother splashed her. It is great to see their bond developing along with the love and care they show each other. 

Do you do messy play? I would love to hear what you get upto?